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Ask HN: What should I do?

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Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#71

Post by AlexMuir »

andyhmltn wrote: post #60
alinajaf wrote: post #15

You're getting screwed at £15k, I've never been paid that little for developing web. For reference, my salary history over my 6+ year career is as follows: £20k->£26k->£45k->£450-£600/day Note that I am a totally average developer, nowhere near as smart or knowledgable as a lot of the guys here on HN. I have a CS degree, barely (I got a 3rd), so that helped at the beginning, but most of my luck has been thanks to an…

Slightly off topic, (Sorry OP) but as an 18 y/o with quite a bit of freelance/past experience, does £20k starting sound good to you?

Sounds between acceptable (Central London) and good to me. With an 18yo there's the risk that you decide to ship out to uni, travel the world, or are bonkers but no-one's noticed yet.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#72

Post by almost »

Wow man, you are sooo underpaid. I know there are a hundred other comments telling you that but just thought I'd add to them. Know this, there are loads of companies out there that REALLY want to hire you, it's hard to hire programmers at double your current salary.

Just tell people about the stammer, you'll find plenty who will understand and be accommodating.

Check out the monthly "Who's hiring" threads on here as well, the latest was posted yesterday:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5472746

Go contact some likely looking positions on there right now! Seriously, you're a programmer, programmers are really in demand right now. You can and will find something better.

Also, fuck your current employer, how dare they take advantage of that to pay you so little.

Good luck! Why not let us know how it went when you've had try...

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#73

Post by gavinflud »

yen223 wrote: post #63
buro9 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the record, I hired on behalf of a corporate in London and would routinely hire graduates for a starting salary between £30k and £40k. We only hired people who had shipped something (anything!), and we paid more if they'd shipped something that looked more full-stack. But yes, in London... people start North of £30k if they're able to demonstrate that they've shipped something.

Posts like this makes me wish I was born in a first-world country. I'd be lucky to be earning half of what this guy's making.

The higher cost of living factors into that majorly though. I know where I am (Dublin) it's very expensive to live in the city and I imagine London is the same. That's why employers in those areas have to pay quite a bit more.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#74

Post by creamyhorror »

yen223 wrote: post #63
buro9 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the record, I hired on behalf of a corporate in London and would routinely hire graduates for a starting salary between £30k and £40k. We only hired people who had shipped something (anything!), and we paid more if they'd shipped something that looked more full-stack. But yes, in London... people start North of £30k if they're able to demonstrate that they've shipped something.

Posts like this makes me wish I was born in a first-world country. I'd be lucky to be earning half of what this guy's making.

I'm with you, except I was born in a first-world country (next door to you). At least in Singapore the wages are better than in Malaysia, but the Singapore wage of USD35k pre-tax for a fresh/newish web developer is still pretty crappy pay compared to SF and even London. And rent is ridiculous, so basically every local lives with their parents.

There are people who make it to SF from here but it's mostly to the big corps. The rest of us will hang around Asia earning relative peanuts while possibly hoping for a side project to take off. Given the poor wages here, it only makes sense to try to get a business going.

Come work in Singapore anyway, you deserve better.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#75

Post by gigantor »

I'm a person who stammers (probably 7/10 on the severity scale) and make as much or more than my top peers. I'm also a contractor, go through and pass more interviews per year than the average full time developer, despite completely blowing some interviews in moments of silence.

1. Your compensation is directly correlated to the company you're dealing with, knowledge of market rates, and negotiation skills.

2. If your employers do in fact don't give you a raise due to your stammer and keep you 'locked up', they are unimaginably terrible mentors and leaders and you need to discard this toxin from your life as soon as you can.

3. Enroll in stammer-specific therapy. The Camperdown speech shaping program is one of the more recent ones for long lasting effects.

4. Read literature about organizational behaviour and power; your quality of code and unit test coverage has very little to do with winning any battles.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#76

Post by zwily »

eksith wrote: post #57

Legitimately, no one can or should refuse to hire you or give you a raise for the quality of your work due to the stammer. That's outright discrimination. But as you've seen, that's how some jerks act when they know they can take advantage of you. There was a brilliant invention I saw a while ago that replays your own speech to you at a slight delay through headphones. This forces you to listen to your words as you s…

Same idea as the record player in Kings Speech, right?

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#77

Post by potatolicious »

yen223 wrote: post #63
buro9 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the record, I hired on behalf of a corporate in London and would routinely hire graduates for a starting salary between £30k and £40k. We only hired people who had shipped something (anything!), and we paid more if they'd shipped something that looked more full-stack. But yes, in London... people start North of £30k if they're able to demonstrate that they've shipped something.

Posts like this makes me wish I was born in a first-world country. I'd be lucky to be earning half of what this guy's making.

Keep in mind that cost of living in London can be higher than even New York City, so that 40K GBP ($60K USD) isn't exactly raking in the dough.

I know one guy who contracts with a US-based company while staying in Asia, exploiting the gap between salary and living cost seems like a pretty smart play.

Question for the Londoners around here: what is the salary range like? I gather that NYC and London living costs are similar (with London supposedly edging out NYC slightly), but around here $120K is common (80K GBP), and in finance frequently runs higher than that. 40K GBP sounds strangely low, but I may lack context.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#78

Post by danso »

Have you tried to bring up the issue at the beginning of the interview, by saying something up front like: "Hi, great to meet you, just so you know, I do stutter when I talk, but etc. etc. insert self-effacing joke here"?

Off-topic: I couldn't help but remember the This American Life episode where a student with a stuttering problem records himself speaking a monologue and removes the stutters in post-production: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/203/r...

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#79

Post by sirbrad »

Your code should always win the battles.

I've had a stammer all my life, it's one the most frustrating things ever. Here's a few things I'd do/did;

- Make a portfolio of the dev work you've done. - When you start speaking with an employer, mention your stammer before the interview so they know what to expect. I think this will also help you mentally prepare as well, there will be 'no' surprises. - Stay calm & good luck!

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#80

Post by benjamincburns »

Yes, you're grossly underpaid. You're doing 100% the right thing by building up a portfolio.

That said, it would be a mistake to think that you can fix this problem with code alone. While a portfolio can "do the talking" to get you in the door, you still have to communicate with your coworkers once you're there. I'd second others opinions to talk to your GP, tell him/her that your speech impediment is affecting your career. Put just as much effort into working with a medical professional as you did/are with your portfolio, and over time you'll have no trouble earning what you're obviously worth.

[EDIT: Also, let your employer know that you're doing these things. Chances are you're more vital to them than you realize, and all of this will help you get that raise. But if you do get it, don't let that placate you. Keep improving yourself.]

[Second edit; I confused this with a Show HN post I was reading at the same time, sorry. Sentiment is the same, however.]

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